Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-06-27
POPULAR SCIENCE.
Items of Information Gatbers d for Peo.
pie Who Think,

textures consists OF pure sulphate OF
ammonia, S kilogrammes; pure carbonate
Of ammonIa, > . kilogrammes; boyic
acid, kuogrammes; pure borax, kilo.
granmes: starch, = kilcgrammes, or dex-
tTine, or gelstine, water, 100 Silo-
grammes. Cloths shoald be dipped in
/ the solution at temperature Of 81 till
they nave soaked it we'll up; then partly
dried in the air, and ST
forwards dried enough 20 De
ironed like starched clothes. The
quantity of starch, deXtrine, or eelatine
NAV be varied according TO the degree OF
stiffness it is desired to give the goods.
i quart Of it will serve for sixteen yards
Ct goods. y mixture applicable 10 can
YES that Is already painted, and to
mounted scenery, TO woodwork, fuTni
ture, curtains, bet-ClOChes, cradles, doors
aad windows, and which can be mike q
with dyes, consists of ssl -ammoniac, %
kicgrammes boriC acid, ) hil0grammes ;
glue, 80 kilogrammes; gelstine, 10 kilo-
gramme; wster, 100 kilogrsmmes, with
lime enough TO give the proper consis-
tenCy. I. should be employed at TEN.
perature of from l22 to 40
The pieces may be dipped into
it or painted with it. In case OF
decorations already pSinted it is enough
70 whitewash the backs of the CanYssss
and the frames on which they are hung
with the preparation. A mixture applica-
BILE to heavier CaGvaseS, cordsge, wood
aud carpentery consists of sal-ammonjac,
. kilogrammes; b0ric acid, kilG-
Grammes; borax, killogrammes; water,
co kilcgrammes. It is used q, tenn
peratuTe of 2I2 The immersion should
continue fifteen or twenty minutes, after
which the piece should be sired and tnen
dried. Another mixture is applicable to
plain or printed paper. IL consists Of
sllphate Of ammonia, : kuOgrammes :
bo9ic acid, . kilOgrammes; oOraX, . kiio-
grammes, and water, 100 kilogrammes
1t is used at temperature Of 1872.
OF the use Of nsptAa as fuel, the Pop
Ular Science Monthly says Naptha mas
been considered dangerous on account OF
its explosive qualities, but it has been
found that they disappear when the liquid
has been exposed TO the sir for few Gays
till it has lost its vGlGtilG constituents,
which compose about ID per cent. OF its
substance. Crude napths, right from the
springs, Is burned 10 the locomotive fur
naces Of Bslschsnsllci Railroad, Russia.
and there are no accidents. Naptha is the
fuel that develops the greatest quantity
Of 3eat, and it also possesses the great
advantage of not containing sulphur or
other Injurious substances. Ninety per
cent. OF theoretiC cslorif5 power can be
realized from it, while not more
then 60 per cent. can be got
from solid cOmbusu5les. In 1859
Z,
as to whether petroleum could DE used as
combustible; now it is employed ex-
ClusiVely on all the ships of the Caspian
sea, and Only hall ss much Of il IS Te-
CURED as used to he consumed Of coal
TIE maximum force to be obtained from
petroleum is equivalent to two and q half
times what coal will furnish; and the ex-
periments on the railroad Baku to Bala-
chan show thet given weight of naptha
will take the place of eight and half
the weight Of wood, although theOretic-
ally calculated difference in caIOrifiC
power is only gs three to one, PetTo-
Ieun is very'conveniently introduced into
the furnaces Of locomotive with the in
jgCtOTS that are used; the combustion is
very easily regulated, and the furnaces
last well in the absence Of sulphur, while
no smoke, sparks or ashes are emitted.
Professor Charles Mayer thus describes
the invuritIct TainwGter While the w
per C0ndenses into rain drops small
amounts of mira c an6 nitrate Of ammonia
are formed and dissolved in the nascen.
drop; the drop finds in the atmosphere
oxygen, nitrogen, clfbonic sci', CXore,
ammonia, ready and eager TO be dis
solved; they are all taken up, and with
the drop begin their journey earthward
While the drop is falling il attracts Gust
floating in the cir containing all the min
eral elements Of the earth 5 crust, espe-
CialiY salt, maglesia, silica, lime, etc
They ell dissolve in it and travel down
ward nearer the surface coal and tar par
tiCies from smoke, sulphur gases end
etllIvia are gathered, and either dissolved
or carried along mechanically; germs Of
nyriads of low organisms constantly
floating in the air are herOOr9d and shell
tered, and By the time the drop dashes
into thousands of minute PARTICLES against
g stone it has become microscopic ocean,
c0ntainingall the elements Of the earth
surface ard beginning Of an active life
Occasionally epidemic diseases seem f.
have spread by clouds and the rain from
them. The best authenticated case is
that OF plague epidemic in the fifteenth
century, which broke cut most violently
in Swiss town Immediately after cloud
coming from ali infect Ell but distant re
region discharged its rain upon that town.
Z. 4. Brydge, of Berlin, says Indus
tries, London paper, has introduced
new way to preserve hides and skins
from injury through rotting, maggots
1t
He proposes to treat them with bergh-
mehl, which corresponds to the fossil
meal, diatomite or infusorial earth of the
English, and consists of the shell of
minute animals of such extreme fneness
that cubic inch of fossil meal contains
upwards of 100000 900 shells. This
fossil meal consists, chemically consider
ed, Of over 90 per cent. of siliciC and q
small percentage Of potash and organic
matter, which latter can be removed by
simple calcination, andis ext1 sordinarIly
hygTOsCcpic, being, in fact, capable OF
absorbing an enormous quaI tity of fluid,
freeing the hides or skins from all fluid
matter which could promote or assist
putrefaction aud deprive them OF all
nourishment for insects, which cause
such enormous damage to hides and
skins during transport.
Rev. David Asanti, native missionary
of the Basic Gold Coast Mission, Africa,
recently visited the hill country OF the
Booso, where he says the temperature is
cool, rains are frequent, and streams
numerous. The country is thinly peo-
pied by population subject TO goitre,
and extremely dirty. Children and bach
elors wear no clothing. The fetish
worship is less subtle than on the coast,
but the poison ordeal is frequently
re sorted to. When s;oerson dies Whole
village sometimes submits to take an
infusion of poisonous bark. Qusrrels
are settled by resorting to the same
e. Cd